#Can you update firmware on Aqara devices in HA when using Matter?

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

muted marsh
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Each device shows a Firmware element in HA but always 'Up-to-date' and I don't think I've ever seen them change. I have W100 sensors and P2 window sensors. Thanks

left pine
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It should all work fine, in fact I'm pretty sure my P2 window sensor has received an update in the past. Aqara is publishing firmware updates for at least some of their devices on the Matter DCL, where home assistant checks to find them.

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They have not yet published any updates for the W100, and the latest for the P2 door & window sensor is 1.0.2.0 published August last year.

muted marsh
gloomy plover
# muted marsh This is great information, thanks

But also, your P2 will only receive the update if it was originally shipped with 1.0.1.1. If your device still has a lower version you cannot update via regular Matter OTA because a bug in those versions has been found to brick devices on update in many occasions. 🙁

left pine
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fwiw, the current matter/thread firmware for the W100 seems to be buggy, mine keeps dropping from matter after running for some amount of time and the only way to reset it is to remove and replace the batteries :(

gloomy plover
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All in all I haven't been too happy about how Aqara approaches Matter (and Thread), e.g. an Aqara hub is neccessary for everything that isn't Matter. Other vendors have shown that it is very well possible for their Apps to talk to their devices directly, just because, you know, thread! It's IP. Surprise -- there is a fully IP-linked trajectory between your phone and the device. Nothing a hub does can't also be done by an app...

left pine
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I've been happy with some of the Aqara Matter stuff has been fine - i have a p2 window sensor and a p2 motion sensor, and they've both been good. The light bulbs work quite well too. But I've never gotten into the Aqara ecosystem with their hub, and I've avoided their devices that use proprietary zigbee extensions for the most part (except the W100, which I regret)

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indeed, the aqara hub is required for things that aren't matter, because the things that aren't matter are zigbee, and there is no IP link to your phone for zigbee stuff :)

gloomy plover
# left pine indeed, the aqara hub is required for things that aren't matter, because the thi...

I wasn't precise here: By "not Matter" I didn't mean ZigBee but features that aren't exposed via Matter in the first place. For example, iirc you could update some early devices via the app/hub when it was not possible via a regular controller. But I might mix it up.
Thread devices (and even regular Matter devices) allow for announcing services in a vendor specific service type name (other than _tcp._matter) and hence expose additional features to their eco-system that aren't (yet) covered by the matter specification.
Examples here would be Nanoleaf (e.g. for software updates) or Lafaer (for configuring range sensitivity).

left pine
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yeah, for their multi-protocol devices with proprietary extensions on zigbee, those features are normally not available at all when running the matter firmware.

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would be nice to solve that somehow.

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but that's in their hands.

gloomy plover
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The beauty with matter (and the linked technology stack) is that you can be fully matter compliant and something else at the same time. For example Belkin has withdrawn from matter stating they cannot differentiate and create added value (hence earn money) because matter makes everything seem equal. So wrong! As a vendor your device can just announce additional services on an additional port, make it dns-sd discovarable and there you go with your crazy additional features -- while at the same time your device will still nicely play along (orchestrated by cutomers choice matter controler for standard behaviour)...

muted marsh
left pine
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come to think of it, i haven't checked whether it drops off thread, or only stops talking to the matter controller. The indicator to say its connected to the network is still on :/